Daily Inspiration: Meet Emily Eaton & Kelsi Foster

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Eaton & Kelsi Foster.

Hi Emily & Kelsi, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
A few years ago, I (Emily Eaton) had a realization that I wanted to create a podcast.

I wasn’t sure what the exact content would be, but I knew it was something I wanted to do. I sat on that dream for a couple of years. At some point during 2020, my husband approached me and told me he felt like I was supposed to create a podcast. I had never shared any of my podcast dreams with him before (or anyone else), so when he came to me with affirmation, I felt like it was time to start putting my dream into motion!

By June 2021, I had done months and months of research preparing for the start of my podcast, but I knew I was missing something: a partner and co-host. After much consideration and prayer, I felt confident that I was meant to embark on this journey with my very close friend of many years, Kelsi Foster.

When I approached her with my idea, a podcast that would tell raw and real-life stories, she immediately and emphatically said “YES! I’m in!” Kelsi and I have both learned the value of sharing life stories and living authentically in community with others, so using that as a starting point we poured the next 5 months into creating our podcast, Ridiculously Imperfect.

On November 9, 2021, we launched our first episode, and we release new episodes every Tuesday. As of the time of this interview (01/19/2022), we have reached 1,619 downloads since publishing our podcast! While most of our listeners are based in the US, we have had downloads from Germany, India, the UK, Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland, Canada, Malaysia, and Japan.

To give context, many new non-celebrity-based podcasts take months or over a year to hit 100 downloads. So, when our first episode hit 252, we knew we had something special. We had no idea what to expect when we started this journey, or how many listeners we would reach. We continue to grow with each episode, and we’re incredibly thankful for our Ridiculously Imperfect listener base!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
From the beginning, this project had so many obstacles. We knew nothing about getting a podcast off the ground, so we started this dream with a completely blank slate.

The learning curve was incredibly large. There were times that it seemed so overwhelming that we wondered how we were going to get this podcast in motion. It’s not as simple as sitting in a room and having a conversation. Hundreds of hours of preparation were poured in before our official launch back in November of 2021, along with the weekly countless hours involved in editing, listening back, uploading and keeping our RSS feed current, keeping up with our social media accounts and our website, marketing, all while planning for our future episodes.

However, once we picked a sound engineer, that was a huge turning point for us! Isaac Moreno with Kingdom Come Studios has not only been our sound engineer but he’s been our sounding board and one of our biggest supporters from the very beginning. He has experience in editing podcasts, so he brought a wealth of knowledge and advice to us and continues to sharpen us each week.

We wouldn’t be where we are without Isaac, and we will never be able to thank him enough for all he’s done!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Kelsi: I have been a registered nurse for 17 years. Currently, I work for a Plastic Surgeon, and I love how different each day can be. I strive to bring compassion and warmth to every single patient, being sure that they feel heard and helped. I am most proud of my kiddos! I have a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son. I love watching them grow and learn new things!

I am also very proud of my husband, who is as loving as he is supportive. I feel like it’s hard to say what sets me apart from others, but my goal is to be a safe place for anyone that needs it, and show others love through my actions and how I live my life.

Emily: Before becoming a podcaster, I worked in the insurance industry. I left my corporate insurance job to stay home with my kids back in 2014 after adopting our youngest son. I am still a stay-at-home parent, and I find myself doing all sorts of DIY projects around the house-no projects is too big for me to handle!

I’m also your typical creative type, so finding my way to podcasting was not a surprise! I am most proud of my family and the life we have built. My husband and 3 kids are the most fun, kind, goofy, warmest, and adventurous people, and each day with them is a gift. What sets me apart is that when I aim to achieve a goal, I am bound and determined to do so… and I will do my best to achieve it with excellence.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
As we started this process, we were hoping to connect with other podcasters to create a mentorship type of relationship. However, that hasn’t exactly happened the way we envisioned, but we still hope to be in a mentorship at some point!

What has been hugely beneficial (outside of Isaac being such a constant help) has been connecting to podcasting groups on social media. These groups have a great community sense and it’s been very helpful to get almost instantaneous feedback on whatever it is we might be encountering.

Our biggest advice is to find people in a similar industry that have goals in alignment with yours and learn from them!

Contact Info:

• Email: ridiculouslyimperfect@gmail.com
• Website: www.ridiculouslyimperfect.com
• Instagram: @ridiculouslyimperfectpodcast
• Facebook: @ridiculouslyimperfectpodcast

Image Credits
Emily Eaton